Defenseless
by rose-knight23
Summary: A new rule in the Ministry now requires that all Aurors have partners, the new rule causes Draco and Hermione to partner up. A new case now develops causing the two to put aside their difference and work together before more muggleborns turn up dead. Can the two get along and find that they're suited for one another or will their partnership be short lived.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright this is my first official Harry Potter fanfiction, so I apologize ahead of time if their dialogue doesn't sound very accurate, it's my first time writing in a British dialect. I would also like to warn people a head of time that this story is going to be rated M because of violence, and minor mentioning of rape. I will also probably make a few things graphic, so if you have a fear of gore than I would skip that part. Other than that, I do tend to write fluffy romance scenes. So I hope you enjoy Dramione as much I do. By the way this story had been Submitted into the NaNoWriMo contest. This chapter all on its own is 9288, I'll end up keeping track as I go into chapters.**

 **Summary:** A new rule in the Ministry now requires that all Aurors have partners, the new rule causes Draco and Hermione to partner up. A new case now develops causing the two to put aside their difference and work together before more muggleborns turn up dead. Can the two get along and find that there suited for one another or will their partnership be short lived.

 **Chapter One:** Partners.

A hazy fog had settled over the empty streets of Diagon Alley. Normally in the daytime these streets would be bustling with frantic shoppers and merchants, but tonight the streets lay vacant. Vendors and shops closed up tight for the night, their candles already doused causing the midnight shadows to loom over the alley ways and flood into the streets. The overcast sky only adding to the darkness of the vacant streets. Not a living soul to be seen tonight.

All save for one.

A young woman ran from street to street, darting through alley ways, cutting across streets. Her heels clicking, the sound bouncing of the walls echoing through the streets.

She ran faster and faster, her heart beating so loudly it seemed to stay in tune to the sound of her heels. The woman was too frightened to look behind her, too focused on getting. All she could focus on was running and getting away.

"Mobilicorpus." Her attacker shouted.

Why wasn't her magic working?! She had tried to defend herself before she ran but nothing came out of her wand. None of the spells she used had work. What was going on?

She turned down a side street hoping to find a place to hide and catch her breath. But the moment she reached the corner she felt her legs buckle up, and a rush of air. She had fallen face first into a puddle.

The spell took effect, she felt as if thin wires had wound themselves over her neck, her wrist and her legs. Oh god, her mind cried, the tears burning her eyes.

She craned her neck to look at the man who was now looming over her. She watched in her frozen state as the man bent down and picked up her wand. He then pointed at her with s sneer on his face. "Why are you doing this!" She shouted her fury mixing in with her words, "I don't even know you!"

He only snickered at her and pointed the stolen wand at her, "Quietus." And with that any another words she had wanted to say caught in her throat.

The man bent down over her, his pelvis pinning her to the ground and his legs tangling up on hers. Hot tears trickled down her cheeks as she felt the man's breath on her ear, "Are you the one?" His voice rasped.

He pointed the wand at her once more, and placed his free hand on her breast, and the other he pointed the wand at her tear stained face. He laughed as the woman pleaded in her mind for help.

"Cruico."

Her silent pleas had gone unanswered that night.

Today was going to be one of those days, Hermione Jean Granger decided the moment she woke up that morning. She had woken up exhausted and with a slight throbbing pain in her left temple. But that's what she got for staying up late researching.

That hadn't been the only red flag she had received that day. During her morning shower she had realized too late that she had forgotten to buy the only conditioner that tamed her lion's mane of hair. She wasn't one that devoted time to making herself pretty. But she did try on her hair. Her hair always got in her way, when she cooked, when she read or when she was working on a case. It was definitely a problem.

Nothing to be done about it now. Her mind sighed. She could pick up more later, nothing to get too upset over.

On her way to the kitchen though, she had spotted a book on her floor that had been shredded into confetti. Crockshanks. Her mind hissed. Upon further investigation of the book she found that it had been one of the newer books she had just purchased. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep to stop a shout that rose to her lips. Well, he'll just have to go without supper tonight. She could just go and purchase another after work. She cleaned up the mess and had shot a glare over at the sleeping bundle of fur that had curled up on the couch. She sighed frustrated and headed to the kitchen.

She had quickly made herself a light breakfast without burning anything, she was thankful that she hadn't been cursed with the same misfortune as she had earlier that morning. Her headache even seemed to be fading. Guess my luck is changing. She smiled as she gathered her files.

She had only transferred to the auror department a few month ago. It had been a hard decision. She enjoyed her work and accomplishments in the department of Magical Creature and Elf Rights. But after doing all the goals she had tasked herself with she had begun to get bored with her job and had grown to miss the action and challenges she had faced when she had been younger. After much internal debate she had placed her request in and had been reassigned on the spot.

Neville and Harry who both worked in the auror department had been trilled and congratulated her. Ron on the other hand had been less so. Since the fall of their relationship he had been distant and moody to anyone other than Harry and his family.

Her relationship with Ron had been a sore topic since she had gone back to school, which he hadn't approved of. Right before she had announced that she had planned to return to Hogwarts. He had proposed to her. When she had turned him down, as gently as she could she told him that she hadn't been ready to settle down. He had understood she hadn't been ready, but what he hadn't understood was the fact she had wanted to return to finish her education. He had failed to see how important that had been too her.

They had fought for hour. He had warned her that their time apart would cripple their already shaky relationship She had thought their partnership had been stronger than that.

She had been proven wrong on that front.

She had left for Hogwarts. They spent the first few months not speaking to one another. Hermione on her part had been too stubborn to be the one to apologize first. Maybe if she had things might have ended differently.

But now she knew that had been a false hope she had clung to.

She had gone to the burrow during Christmas Break. Everyone had greeted her warmly, all except for Ron. He had been distant, avoided her gaze. He didn't even embrace her. After a few days of that she had confronted him. At first he tried to brush her off, that he had been feeling under the weather and hadn't wanted her to catch it. They both knew that had been a lie. Some few words later he had confessed that he had cheated on her.

It had been a one night stand. He said it meant nothing to him. He had gone on and on, about how lonely he had been while she had been gone. He apologized over and over. She had been furious with him, eventually she had calmed down and rationally thought about it. After a while of not speaking to him, she had forgave him and took him back.

She had been wrong to do so.

A year later, Hermione had graduated, (Head girl might she add), had gotten her job in the ministry and even acquired a cozy flat in muggle London. She had even considered taking Ron's marriage proposal up. But that had been before another one of his secrets revealed itself

A woman had approached Ron and herself one day, the woman had been four month pregnant and had declared Ron had been the father.

He had cheated on her again. There had been no excuses that time. She didn't buy into anything he said. She gave him no time to explain she just walked away and refused to even see him after that.

It was what he deserved, she told herself. Harry who didn't know what had happened had tried to get her to speak with Ron, but she refused. After a bit, she had met with Ron privately. She told him they could never be what they had been, but she still wanted to try to be friends for the sake of not only the memory of their old friendship, but also for Harry who would be caught in the middle. She told him she forgave him which he returned with scorn. He blamed the whole thing on her, that if she hadn't gone away to school than he wouldn't have cheated.

They had fought some more, but they had agreed on one thing. That Harry and everyone else could never know of the real reason they had separated. On her part she knew why Ron wanted to keep it a secret. She knew he didn't want to look like the bad guy, even though he had been. But on her part she knew that if Harry knew it would drive a wedge between her friendship with him. She knew even before that incident that Harry would always side with Ron, no matter what. They were best friends after all. She knew that he would always take Ron side over hers. She hadn't wanted to lose her friendship with him so she agreed to withhold the truth from him.

Though everyone could see the tension between Ron and herself. It had been obvious. At first they had tried or at least she had to be civil with one another but it had been in vain. There had been too much bad blood between them.

Harry had asked, so had Ginny and the rest of the Weasly's but they both had brushed it off, and eventually they stopped asking. There had been times where Harry and Ginny both had tried to convince them to get back together, those attempts had stopped after a while as well.

The three; Ron, Harry and Hermione hadn't hung out all together after that. She knew Harry had been disappointed but it became too painful to be around Ron and his snarky curt remarks towards her. Eventually she had distances herself from the two and had immersed herself with her work. Passing up times to be around the two claiming she had been too busy with her paperwork.

Then she had switched departments. Every now and then she would be invited to lunch with the two of them, on most days she would claim she had too much work other days it couldn't be avoided. She felt guilty for ignoring Harry. On those days Harry had seemed happy, talking about how it was like the old days, while Ron's attitude only seemed to worsen with her around. She wandered whether their friendship could ever return to normal. But after all this time, his anger towards her fermenting she knew that it wasn't a possibility.

She shook her head, now was not the time to dwell on the past, she had to get going or she would be late for work.

She glided over to her fireplace only to find that she was out of floo. "Wonderful I forgot to stock up." She grumbled. Now she would have to apparate to work. Just thinking about it made her stomach do flips. Unfortunately for her the Ministry had an anti-apparating charm casted on it, so she would have to apparete outside the building, in the pouring rain, on a cold September day. Oh today was getting better and better. She thought sarcastically.

She never enjoyed the feeling of apparating, but then again she knew she wasn't the only one. After having her insides jostled and ripped apart she arrived at the ministry all in one piece. Regaining her senses she managed to get inside before she got drenched. With a quick wave of her wand her clothes dried. She quickly ran to the break room to pour herself a hot cup of coffee. Sure the office coffee was bland and stale, but it was still coffee and it was still warm. The perfect thing to warm her up, and hopefully give her the strength to make it through the day.

With her favorite mug in hand she made her way to the auror department office. On her way she couldn't help but recalled all the changes that had been made since the war. Before the war the ministry had been corrupt, and incompetent. Rather than prevent a catastrophic event from happened they turned a blind eye and pretended it had been happening. Now the ministry worked to prevent events like that from happening. They also changed the task of aurors, instead of only handling cases where dark wizards were involved, they now handled anything that seemed odd. They were basically the muggle equivalent of detectives. The past five years had been dedicated to making the ministry stronger so in case they ever ran into a situation where a power hungry wizard or witch rose to power they would be ready.

She had smile to herself proud that she was a part of this when an intern had an intern absent-mindedly crashed into her, spilling her hot coffee all the way down her blouse and causing her mug to fall to the floor shattering the moment porcelain met tile. Lucky for her she knew she could fix her mug, though her clothes were not as lucky. There was not a spell in the world that could remove coffee stains. Hopefully someone would get on that.

After that she reached the door the door to her office hopefully her strain of bad luck had ended. When she was about to enter her office she heard voices inside the room. Who would be in her office at this hour? She listened closely to the two voices, she thought it might have been Harry and Ron, until she recognized Kinglsy's voice, but the other, it sounded familiar but she couldn't tell who it was. Hopefully this wouldn't be more bad news she had enough already. But the feeling she got had been telling her otherwise. She took a deep breath and gripped and handle and pushed the door opened.

"Miss Granger." She heard Kinsley say but had been preoccupied to comprehend. She was too focused on the other person who had perched himself on the side of her desk. Dressed in what she assumed was probably a custom tailor suit probably made from the finest material that seemed to contour to his every curve, was the overly proud, conceited narcissistic Draco Malfoy.

What the hell is he doing in my office? Her mind screamed. It had been at least five years since she had last seen him. She had recalled seeing in a few of her classes when she had returned to Hogwarts to finish school. She remembered he had hardly said anything to anyone. He hadn't picked on anyone, nor did he play his usually pureblood supremacy card. It was strange how he kept to himself. He didn't even make any snide comments about her "dirty" blood. He didn't even try to belittle her. In fact it seemed like he had done everything he could to avoid her.

She had also read about him in the papers after the war. He had been pardon and had been given a probation period of three years. She also knew that his father was still serving his life sentence in Azkaban and his mother had just been released a year ago but was still under probation and had an auror who she had to check in with everything month. But other than that she didn't know what else had happened to him after graduation.

Other than the fact that he looked so much more mature and sophisticated than he had in school. Especially while he was looking at her with those cool grey eyes, his eyes were very nice-

No! She stopped the through before it went any further. This was Malfoy the prat king who used to bully and belittle her for her blood. She would not allow herself to think he was good looking, even if he was. She did wonder why he was he though. He couldn't have possibly go himself into any trouble. Maybe he had crossed some ex death eater and he needed protection. That couldn't be it considering the smug smirk he was giving her.

Kinsley cleared his though bringing her full attention back to them, he smiled, "I'm sure you remember the new rule I enforced," He smiled.

She did not like where this was going, "Yes sir, the one where all Aurors are now required to have partners assigned to them." Thanks to Harry and Ron's reckless behavior and there talent for always getting themselves into danger, Kinsley had to create that rule to keep the aurors safe, and to make sure all aurors kept in line. Last thing they needed was corruption in their ranks.

He smiled at her, "Mr. Malfoy here has just been assigned to you."

She felt her heart skip a beat, and a lump rise to her throat. She hadn't been assigned a partner yet, she had only assumed that there hadn't been enough Aurors in the department. But Malfoy wasn't in the department. She would have known if he was. Harry and Ron would have been the first to protest against it, yet she hadn't heard them complain about working with him. "But sir, Malfoy isn't with the Auror department." Hopefully there had been some mix up with the paper work, she hadn't seen his name in the ministry registry. She glanced over to Malfoy who seemed too relaxed and cocky for his own good. Why was he so calm? Why didn't he throw some sort of hissy fit about having to work with her? She knew he hated her, yet he didn't show any sort of distain or disgust at the fact. Unless this was a new way for him to torment her. It was working.

Though in some part of her mind she did wonder, maybe Malfoy had changed after the war. It could be possible, and he had redeemed himself during the war. He hadn't confirmed it was Harry when they had been trapped in the Malfoy Manor. Whether that was out of cowardice was another story, but she had hoped it was because he didn't want Harry to die.

Kingsley raised an eyebrow, then strode over to her and right before he left the office he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mr. Malfoy transferred to our department last week, the paper work just went through." He smiled, "Why don't you show him around before you work on your next case."

And on that final note, Kingsley left the two. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. How could the ministry allow an ex-death eater into their ranks? She knew that a lot of people Aurors included would be not only suspicious but hostile towards him. Even if he hadn't killed anyone during the war that didn't stop others from assuming he had. He might as well put a bull's eye on Malfoys forehead. No one would accept him, they wouldn't even give him a chance she knew Harry and Ron wouldn't. She also knew that Harry and Ron would both over react to him joining the aurors. She hoped Kinsley had a good reason for letting him join. She had also been shocked that he had joined the Auror department willingly. He had to have known he would face prejudice when he joined. Honestly she felt sorry for him. That he would be watched and judged with every move that he made. It couldn't have been an easy choice for him to join the auror department.

She could still feel that awkward silence hang in the air as she watched him. "Alright Malfoy, I'll show you around." She said trying to make her voice as docile as possible. She was already having a horrible day, she didn't want to antagonize him into an argument. One could only hope he had matured in the last five years.

She watched him as he hoped off her desk and walked directly in front of her, and with a conceited grin plastered on his face, he opened his mouth and made her day worse;

"Woah Granger who knew you had a body like that!"

\\.../\\.../\\.../

His cheek stung. If he had known Granger would have slapped him for his compliment than he would have just insulted her instead. She couldn't just take a compliment and leave it at that. But noooo she had to go and slap him. Full force might I add. "Last time I compliment her…" He grumbled.

"What was that?" She snapped.

"Nothing." He replied stuffing his hands in his pockets. Currently the former Gryffindor Princess was showing him around the office. Thankfully they hadn't run into Potter and Weasabee. He knew they worked in the same department, but they didn't know he did and he would like to keep it that way. Last thing he needed was them jumping him thinking he was a spy or something. He'd imagine Weasely to say something about him making a new death eater cult and him being the leader trying to worm his way into the ministry to get info.

What he hadn't know was that Granger worked as an Auror, he would have thought she'd be part of a muggles rights department, or fighting for creatures rights. Or something else that was overly self-righteous and right up her alley. He never would have guessed she was a part of the auror department, he was definitely surprised, but even more so when he had been assigned her partner.

If someone had told him when he was younger that he would be partners with Hermione Granger, he would have laughed, and probably said something along the lines of how he would rather swim in a leech and disease infested swamp than work with a "mudblood". But now that didn't matter to him. Her being a muggleborn wasn't so much of a concern to him as it had been in the past. In the years after the war, and if he was being honest, in his sixth year, his views on muggleborns had shifted.

His father had shoved so much prejudice down this throat that he never once questions why he had thought he was better than them. In his sixth year, before he had been given the dark mark, he had witnessed his father and Voldemort torture then kill dozen of innocent witches and wizards because of their blood status. It made them feel powerful, but he didn't share that feeling. It left him feeling disgusted and ashamed. He had been forced to watch his aunt torture Granger. Granger had been strong, she held out longer than he through she would. His aunt had been relentless, but Granger never gave up. It had been horrible and even he had wanted to run up and snatch the wand away from his aunt. But he had to think of his mother. She had only supported the Dark Lord because of his father and himself. The Dark Lord had known that and had his followers watch her. He was threating her to make his father perform better. He had also used his mother to ensure he would remain loyal. He couldn't do anything to help Granger, not when he had his mother's safety to worry about.

He did regret not helping Granger, her screams still haunted him.

As he followed behind Granger he couldn't help but notice the subtle changes that the years had graced her with. He had to say he had been slightly taken back when she had walked into the office. He was right when he told her she grew into her curves. In school she had always worn baggy sweaters that did not flatter her in the slightest. But now she wore a nice blouse and dress pants that seemed to hug every subtle curve she had. She had that right kind of shape, where she wasn't skin and bones, and she wasn't heavy. He couldn't explain, it was just a nice shape. Her hair had always been a bushy mess that if you happened to sit behind her in class you wouldn't be able to look over it. Now it seemed to have calmed down into waves, and slight curls. Sure it was still bushy, but it didn't occupy the room. She looked good.

And he couldn't believe he thought that. He was checking out Hermione Granger, the bookworm know it all herself. Must have been a momentary lapse of insanity.

He had been taken out of his thoughts when Granger turned around abruptly to face him with an expression that could turn him to stone. "And that's the office, questions?" She asked curtly. Maybe she realized that he hadn't been paying attention. That was mostly likely the case, since that look was not pretty.

"Yeah what's out mission?" He wanted to get right into the field. Hopefully he wouldn't be stuck doing paperwork or research, if Granger was involved it was more than likely.

She groaned and shot him a look. "Well I was assigned to look into a recent burglary at diagon alley." She then walked back to her office with him in tow. She went over to her desk and handed him a small file. "About four days ago, Slug and Jiggers Apothecary had been broken into. The thief had made off with a number of items; one jar of Doexy Eggs, one bag of monkshood, one bushel of nightshade, three bushels of bloodroot, one bottle of peppermint oil and one moonstone had been stolen. A team of aurors had done a sweep of the place and had found no trace of the robber, and no witnesses have stepped forward either. We're not even sure how they had gotten in, anit-aparating charms were placed on the story daily, and the floo system is private. No visual signs of forced entry, and no magic had been used on the locks."

Draco rolled his eyes, great his first case was about a petty thief. Probably a teenager getting ingredients to prank someone with. "Is this case really worth looking into? It's just a robbery."

She shook her head, "If this had been "just" a robbery." She emphasized and shot him a look, "Than there would have been signs of a forced entry, or the door being busted down, or spell had been cast on the locks or a windows could have been smashed. No. There were no signs like that. And the anti-burglary charms hadn't gone off. So were dealing with someone who knew how to get past security charms and not get detected by magic, and by people seeing them."

She still was her know it all self, that hadn't changed about her. He let out a groan and crossed his arms, "Can't they assign that case to someone else?" There was no way he would start off with a case like that. He had needed something to prove to Kingsley, to prove to the rest of the wizarding world that he could handle this job. He also needed to prove to the wizarding community that he wasn't a death eater, he served his probation and he hadn't done anything illegal in years. No one seemed to believe him. This case wouldn't be the one to show anyone what he was capable of. Not to mention this case was a dud.

"You can't just say no to the mission your assigned to. " And the know it all tone surfaces, "There are certain protocols that stop an auror from doing that. Not to mention were assigned missions based on our skills."

"Do you always follow the rules?" He sneered, "Oh wait your Granger, the ultimate rule follower."

She scoffed at him and sat down behind her desk. "Oh shut it Malfoy. This case is a perfect one to start off on." He could tell she was annoyed. Wonder how much more it would take to really get her angry.

"You said it yourself, the other aurors had already done a sweep and found nothing. What are we going to do research?"

"Well we need to show the shop keep we are doing everything we can," She argued back, "And trust me, I would much rather work on another case, but we were assigned this one and we have to finish it."

"You mean you were assigned it. I wasn't here when you got it so I'm not on it."

"If you're my partner now that mean you are too."

"Does not!"

"Oh grow up Malfoy!"

"You first Granger!"

"Urg you're infuriating!" She shouted throwing her arms up.

He smirked, it was fun getting under her skin. Maybe this partnership wouldn't be as terrible as he thought it would. He sat down on the other side of her and watched her pull out a notebook of some kind and then she began to jot down some notes, most likely it was in regards to the burglary case. After a few minutes of him just sitting there he thought it would be a good time to break the silence. "So Granger, how long have you've been in the auror department?"

She looked up from her notes, her eyebrow arched, "Why do you care?"

"Consider it small talk." Did he really need a reason to ask?

"Six months ago."

She had only been here for six months, "Where did you transfer from?" He wasn't sure why he was curious, he just was.

"Only if you tell me why you transferred to the auror department." Bullocks, he would have to come up with something. No way was he confessing anything to her. He had to come up with something believable too, Granger wasn't stupid and wouldn't take just anything without questioning it.

"I didn't want a desk job." She would have to buy that for now. He didn't want to pour his heart out to her. She'd probably run off and tell Potter and Weasely. "Now you." He half expected her to give him a half assed answer like he had but he was surprised when she thought over her answer."

"I was happy in the department for regulation of magical creatures, but something didn't seem right." She shook her head and looked back down at her papers, "I thought that after the war I would have just enjoyed the peace and quiet of that position, but after a while it had gotten a little, well boring. So I switched departments, and I actually love it here. It challenges me."

He hadn't expected that kind of an answer, and he had to admit that he felt guilty that she had given him a true full answer. He was about to reply when the door swung open, turning in his chair he was greeted by a mousy looking woman with messy short cropped hair with her hair hung low. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" The woman squeaked. Draco could tell she was looking at him by the way she was hiding her gaze behind the rims of her glasses. He flashed her a smirk which made her entire face turn reed like a tomato, and he could swear he thought he saw her glasses steam up a bit.

Hermione sat back down in her chair and gave him a warning look at him. She was such a kill joy. "No you aren't Penelope." Granger smiled, jeeze she could really switch her mood like a flip of a coin. "Malfoy this is Kinsley Secretary Penelope Ramley, Penelope this is-"

"Draco Malfoy!" She blurted, diverting her eye away from the two of them. How the heck did a mousy woman like her get a job in the ministry? He wondered. "Y-your uh new partner, Kinsley briefed me about it before you came in." He smirked, he still had a fan club even after the war. I guess somethings stay the same. He thought smugly.

"Hey." He smirked.

The mousy secretary squeaked out another reply, but it was too quick to understand. Before he could ask for a repeat, Granger cut in, "What do you need Penelope?"

"Oh!" She blurted, her blush turning ten shades darer, "Kingsley assigned you a new mission. He said the burglary case can be set aside since no new information has surfaced." She mumbled. Had to have been a Ravenclaw or a Huffpuff. He was sure there wasn't an ounce of Courage in that mousy body.

"May I see the case file? Granger asked.

"Of course…" Penelope replied, she glanced back at him then darted her eyes away from him. This woman needed a back bone, "I better get back to work."

Granger flashed her a smiled and sat back down opening the case file, "Thank you Penelope."

"You're welcome Miss Granger."

Right before she left she looked back towards him. He smirked, this outta be fun. "Yeah thanks _Penelope._ " He emphasized her name and she ran quickly from the room saying something to high pitch and fast to be audible. Mouse lingo. He thought rolling his eyes, he turned back to Granger who did not look happy. But when is she ever happy? "What?"

"Your impossibly you know that?"

"Impossibly handsome you mean." He smirked.

"No you're impossibly arrogant. Why did you have to do that to her?"

"Do what?"

"Oh don't play innocent! You teased the poor thing. She won't be able to speak clearly all day now!" She huffed. Is it me or is her hair frizzing out? He thought as he watched her hair frizz around her. Maybe her hair portrays when she's angry.

"Are you even paying attention?" She snapped.

"Did you know your hair frizzes when you're angry?" He could feel her anger radiating off of her, and she the silent struggle in her eyes to calm down. She was way too easy to read.

After a few minutes she seemed to have calmed down a little and opened the case file. He watched her face pale slightly as he eyes skimmed over the files. It must be something gruesome to make her flinch the way she was. "So what is it?" He asked as he leaned against the desk.

She let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose before she shook and head and closed the file. "It's a murder case."

"What are the details Granger?" He asked leaning over the desk.

She let out another sigh and handed him the file, "The pictures are a bit graphic." Her voice sounded as if there was a heavy burden on her chest.

She hadn't been lying. The pictures were bad. The file had shown a young girl that looked to be around their age, twenty something the woman had been in pretty rough shape, her clothes had been torn, her hair sprawled out, mixing in with the blood and mud on the ground. Her eyes were bulging out and had turned a disgusting shade of greenish yellow. While her mouth, tongue, and gums had all turned a dark shade of blue, almost black. But that hadn't been that strange, there were many potions that could turn someone's mouth black, what had been strange was the fact that her blood had turned black. Darker than the color of her mouth.

"Gwendolyn Hopkins." Granger stated raising from her chair. "Age twenty-five, a house elf doing errands had found her this morning." She added grabbing her bag, "Come on Malfoy."

He hopped off the desk and followed her, the file tightly gripped in his hands. He hoped that this case would help him start off on the right track but he also hoped that they'd be able to catch the guy who had killed her.

/….\/….\\.../

Hermione had been completely wrong when she thought her day couldn't get any worse. They had arrived at the crime scene only to get caught in another downpour. Luckily the aurors on scene had already placed charms on the scene to prevent the rain from washing away any evidence they might have missed. But she still had gotten drenched before she reached the crime scene.

Stepping into the charmed area she glanced down at the body. It was one thing to see a picture of the victim, but to actually be around the physical body was another story. The first murder case she had been assigned to had given her a rude awakening. She had been used to seeing a body dead, because of the war but it hadn't prepared her for a mutilated body. During the war she would witness wizards using the killing curse which had been a quick death. But the bodies she would examine all looked like they had suffered a very slow and painful death. With time she thought it would get easier but it would seem that with each new case it would get worse.

She crouched down to examine the body further. The aurors that had been called beforehand had thankfully left everything as is, which made her job a bit easier. She looked over to Malfoy who seemed to be looking around for more clues. Good he went right to work, hopefully he won't bother him for a while. She had to focus, she couldn't afford to be distracted by him doing.

She glanced around, they were in an alley way, near nocturne alley. She didn't expect many witness to come forth since the residents there kept to themselves. The body had been placed near the trash cans on the side of the alley. Could this have been the dump site? The murderer probably didn't think too much of the victim by the way he had left the body. He didn't bother to cover her up or hide her. Didn't bother to cover up her torn clothing. She then took in the victim's appearance.; she was lying belly up, her eyes locked straight ahead as if she were still looking at her attacker before they had killed her. That hadn't unnerved the murderer which meant they were dealing with a seasoned killer. Anyone who hadn't had the training nor the experience wouldn't be able to have their victim's eyes on them. Her arms were still sprawled out after rigor mortis had set in.

She glanced down at her legs, they looked as if they had been bound together before she had been killed by the way they laid. Must have been a spell since there were no signs of physical restraints. That was why there had been barely any signs of a struggle. Her clothes had been torn exposing her chest and her torn bra. Her skirt had been shredded and barely covered her hips. The cuts on her looked as if they were made by magic, not by hands. In fact the only sign that he had touched her physically was that there were hand prints on her breast and on her thighs. She looked away, she could tell just by the hand prints that she had been sexually assaulted there was no need to look under her skirt to see. She couldn't tell if it had been post mortem or not. She shook her head the murderer was definitely sick in the head. She looked at the cuts, they were definitely caused by magic, possibly the crutiatous curse.

She glanced over at the victims face and felt herself frown. Her brown eyes were forever frozen staring above. Terror had washed over her features. Her last hours had been spent being torture and raped, and possibly poisoned. She surveyed her it was definitely some form of poison that had died her gums, tongue, and blood black. She would need a toxicology test and whatever spell had been used last on her. She didn't know of any poison that could stain her gums that color.

So not only had the victim endured torture, and had been sexually assaulted, she had to also suffer through being poisoned and by the look of her physical features. At this point in their investigation, she couldn't assume that whatever poison was used on her was also used to kill her.

She looked over to the coroner who was sitting on a bench near the entrance of the alley way, "Sir!" She called over to him, "What can you tell me about the victim? Other than what had been listed on her profile?"

The coroner popped his head up from his ledger, and bounced over to her almost like a giddy school girl. He was an eccentric fellow with brown messy hair. He was young probably only a couple of years older than her. He was a tall guy, and skinny too. "Oh yes Miss Granger." He replied quickly, he then started flipping through his ledger periodically pushing his glasses back up on his face. "We performed a search for fingerprints, none of the spells came up with anything. If there had been any fingerprints they've either been washed away by the rain we've had these last few days, or the criminal had a spell that removed them. There is no evidence that could point them to the murder and judging from her wounds, time of death puts her at two days ago around eleven pm."

"Did anyone file a missing person's report?"

"Oh uh yes. Her boss had. A mister Adalbert Abbott. He reported her missing yesterday." He replied adjusting his glasses. "She was employed at Obscurus Books. Whoever did this, is a professional. There is no way someone who didn't have any experience killing could have done this and not left any evidence."

She nodded her head, she had been right about that then. She smiled at the coroner, "Errol Elphick wasn't it?" She had seen him before at other cases, but the two had never been formally introduced.

"Oh yes Miss Granger." His mood had seemed to have brighten at that. Well glad she could make someone else's day better.

"Good work, thank you."

"You are quite welcome Miss Granger, always happy to help." He smiled and walked back over to his seat. He was definitely a cheerful fellow. She wondered how he coped with the task of examining murder victims and still stay so positive.

She was about to reexamine the victim when she had been called out of her concentration, "Hey Granger!"

Malfoy, she inwardly groaned. She glanced over, "Yes?"

"I found a wand." He said as he held up an evidence bag that held a broken wand. Was it the Victims she wondered? Or the murderers. Hoping it was the latter's she made her way across the crime scene to where Malfoy was standing. Why would they break the wand? They didn't need to. It could have happened during the struggle. Why would they hide the broken wand near the garbage bags and not just dispose of it? Was it just being lazy or sloppy? Or could it be the opposite, could they have done that to prove that he couldn't be caught. If that was the case than he was cocky and arrogant. Not a good combination. "It looks like a willow wand. I'll send it in, maybe they can determine who it belongs to and what spell had been used last."

She nodded her head, "See if they can get any fingerprints off the wand."

"Right."

She looked around the crime scene once more. They were already removing the body. "There's not much else we can do here. We'll go around here and question a few people, then we'll head to her employer."

"The two aurors had already questioned the people around here. No witnesses. It'll be a waste of bloody time if we go and do that again."

She rolled her eyes, he was so impatient. But he did have a point. If there were no witnesses here, or any that step forward than there was no point in doing it again. "Alright then have them send a copy to my office. Let's go talk with her boss." She stated as she held out her arm, "we'll aparate there."

He gave her a pointed look, "I don't bite Malfoy."

"But you do have a good right arm, I still remember that punch."

She was going to develop the habit of rolling her eyes, "Just take my arm Malfoy, we don't have all day."

"Alright!" He breathed out then mumbled under his breath, "No need to bite my head off." She probably thought she wouldn't hear him, Idiot.

After the two appareted to a different part of diagon alley they headed to the bookstore. Hermione took the moment to brief Malfoy about the etiquette of questioning potential witnesses. Something that needed patience and keeping a level head. Something told her he wouldn't be able to keep a professional demeanor. Last thing she needed was him to go and bully the poor man. "Alright Malfoy listen up." She said as she turned around to face him. "When we go, do not raise your voice, do not insinuate anything, and do not accuse or threaten him. We are here to ask questions only, and do not raise any suspicion."

"Jeeze Granger what crawled up your arse?"

She could kill him! How on Earth did he ever get a job as an auror? He must have used money to bribe his way in. There was no way they would let this immature get in. She shot him a look, "Just act professional, I know it might be hard for you but dig deep I'm sure your maturity is in there somewhere." She looked away and muttered, "Maybe under all that hair grease…"

He scoffed and crossed his arms, Oh look she got him mad. "Look Granger I know how to handle myself. It may be a bit of a shock for a know it all like yourself, but I was trained for this job."

She begged to differ, but now wasn't the time for another argument. "Just let me do all the talking."

"Whatever Granger." Was he pouting? Merlin she knew children that were more mature than he was.

She shook her head and turned to enter the older bookstore. The moment she stepped through the threshold she was greeted by that all too familiar sent of old dusty books. To many it was a terrible smell that would send someone into a sneezing frenzy, but to her it was familiar and comforting. She heard Malfoy stifle a cough before she headed up to the counter.

The desk like many of the shelves had been covered by a thin layer of dust. The wood flooring that might have been at one point stained a deep crimson oak color, now faded into a dull brown grey. On many parts of the wall the paint had begun to peel and crumble. You could see water cracks begin to form on the ceiling and on the walls as well. With the rain storm they had had, it was a wonder the roof wasn't leaking. This shop had seen the years and had not held up against the creeping of time. She felt a slight at her heart. She hated to see bookstores in this kind of shape. It could definitely use some renovating. She thought as she spotted a loose floorboard over to her right.

She waited behind the counter for someone to come over, she could see from the corner of her eyes that Malfoy was growing impatient. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She glanced down at one of the isle and to her luck an old plump looking man was stacking books on one of the shelves. She cleared her throat and approached the old man, getting her badge ready she spoke scarring the man and causing him to drop the books he had been carrying, the dust from the floor rose into the air. "Adalbert Abbott?"

The old man turned around as quickly as his old bones would allow. He was balding at the top, the hair that he did have grew wildly on the sides of his head. He worse thick rounded glasses that made his eyes appear much bigger than they actually were. He was also shaped like a ball that had sticks for arms and legs.

She had to elbow Malfoy to stop him from snickering. Prat. She thought. "My name is Hermione Granger." She flashed her auror badge at him. After the war, the new ministry had required that all aurors were to carry a specialty charmed badge and license that could be replicated, duplicated, forged or tampered with at all times to prove to others who they were. It had also been blood bonded to the person so no one couldn't just pick it up, use a polyjuice potion and pretend to be that auror. "I'm an auror for the ministry and this is my partner Draco Malfoy. Would it be alright if we asked you a few questions?"

She saw Abbott flinch at Malfoys name, guess he wasn't a fan of the Malfoy family. He looked at him up and down trying to size him up. Hopefully his hesitance towards Malfoy wouldn't prevent them from getting information. After a moment Abbotts seemed to relax a little and looked back towards her. "Yes you may, but please make it quick, a customer might walk in."

"Doubts on that happening." Malfoy mumbled under his breath, causing him to receive another jab in the ribs

"Yesterday." She began, while taking out a magical infused quid and pad that began to record their conversation. "You had reported your employee Gwendolyn Hopkins missing correct?"

The old man nodded shakily, "Yes."

"How long has it been since you've actually seen her?"

"Um, I don't quite remember…um could you give me a moment please?"

"Of course."

The elderly man sat down on a stack of books, hand clasped together he started to mutter to himself. From behind her she could feel Malfoys irritation grow. After a few moments Malfoy broke the silence.

"Come on old man, we don't have all day!" He shouted.

Abbott shouted right back, his frail voice barely reaching a high pitch, "I-I beg your pardon sir?"

Hermione quickly jumped in hoping to stop the argument from escalating. Silently wishing Malfoy had had perception skills high enough to realize that he made the man on edge. "I apologize for my partner sir, he is just very impatient. Now when did you say she had gone missing?" She asked as delicately as she could. She would need to tread carefully. Obviously Abbot was weary of Malfoy, and with the tension that now formed in the room she could tell this conversation could tour sour at any moment.

Abbott cleared his throat, "If I remember correctly a day before I reported her missing…"

"And had she acted differently, any strange behavior? Had she been unusually quiet, or jumpy?"

"Let me think…uh…" He trailed off, which caused Malfoy to groan.

"Malfoy…." She hissed under her breath.

It looked as if Malfoy was about to retort when Abbott spoke up, "Well she didn't say anything strange…though she seemed jumpy, she kept looking around she even dropped the books she was carrying, she was never that clumsy before."

Most likely a stalker, or someone threatening her. Needed more info before she could come to a conclusion. "Did she say anything to you? Anything out of the ordinary that you noticed, maybe someone hanging around the shop, or waiting for her outside the store?"

"Oh um, let me think…"

Before she could even blink, Malfoy responded first, "Spit it out old man!"

"Malfoy shut it…" She snapped.

He glared down at her, "I will when, "He snapped his eyes over at the flustered elder, "he answers faster, we don't have all day."

"Give him a moment to think it over!"

"If we do that then we'll be stuck here till we reach his age!"

"Malfoy that's enough!"

"For all we know he could be the killer!"

"Malfoy I said that's enough!"

She had barely heard Abbott say, "I think it's time the two of you leave."

Malfoy turned back towards her and crossed his arms, "Now look what you've done Granger."

That was all she could take before her anger boiled over. She was frustrated and tired. All he could do was blame others and think of himself. He was a narcissistic prick who couldn't just keep his mouth shut. "What I did? You're the one that started being rude to him for no reason!"

Now that their voice had lowered, she could clearly hear Abbott, "You two leave now or I am calling your higher ups!"

Malfoy shouted back scarring Abbott, "Not until you answer our bloody questions!"

Abbott glared right back at Malfoy, his face had turned a deep crimson and sweat began to collect on his caterpillar eyebrows. "What is this all about?"

Before she could react and stop him, Malfoy blurted out the one think he should have held back, "Your employee, Miss Hopkins was found dead this morning in a trash pile!"

Abbott had fallen back, crashing into the book case causing a few books to fall to the floor. His face had lost all color to the point where he looked as white as a ghost. "Dear Merlin…" He grasped and held a hand over his mouth then grasped his chest in pain.

Dear God. Hermione thought as she rushed over to the elderly man. She caught him before his head had hit the floor.

Malfoy immediately shut his mouth, and rushed over, "I think he's having a heart attack." Hermione said as her panic brown eyes meet his anxious ones.

"Oh shite…"

 **And that's the first chapter, I know it seems like a lot for the first one but I had to cover a lot before we move into the rest. And please be warned this is not only my first Harry Potter fanfiction this is also my first time writing a murder mystery story. I normally just deal with romance and drama but I wanted to try something new. Let me know if Draco seems a bit out of character, I'm trying to make him a prick but I don't want to make him too immature so let me know. And wow that's over 8000 words for just one chapter, I've never had that many for one chapter before.**


	2. Chapter 2

I am soooooo sorry I havent posted anything in like over a year. I know I hate it when authors dont post, and i wont bore you with the details as to why other than the fact that I started a new job that doesnt let me work on personal things while I work, and its a full time job so I'm there all day. Anyway, chapter three is mostly written just needs to be typed.

 **Chapter Two: ** Repercussions

The next morning Hermione had walked into the auror department with a lump in her chest. She hadnt been able to sleep at all, no matter how hard she tried. With the burden of guilt hanging on her shoulders she had been surprised that she had been able to eat her breakfast. They had rushed Abbott to Saint Mungo's in time to save him and it had been just as Hermione had thought. The elder man had indeed suffered a heart attack. He had a heart condition that she hadnt been aware of and the stress of the interview and the news he had been given had sent his heart into overdrive.

Even though they had been able to stabilize and he had been resting easily, Hermione's guilt hadnt eased. She felt terrible. It had been entirely their fault, mostly Malfoy's but she assumed responsibly. I she hadnt lost her temper and hadnt been blinded by her frustration towards Malfoy than she might have been able to stop the argument before it had escalated.

She walked into her office skipping her morning coffee due to the fluttering of uneasiness that battled in her stomach and seen Malfoy already in there. He was earlier than she had been. Strange She thought. He cant be that nervous that he came in early. Remorse wasn't an emotion she knew him to be capable of. She shrugged it off and went to her desk. "Granger." He began, "I know what you're thinking but this isnt our fault!" She couldn't contain the scoff that rose to her lips, "If he had only answered our ques-"

"He was!" She snapped, "If you had given him a moment to think it over than he wouldn't have had that heart attack!"

"He might have been lying! Trying to trick us that he was a senile old coot!"

"Or he could have been just that!"

"Than he shouldn't be running a business!"

She could feel the deepest part of her mind screaming in fury. She took a calm breath to keep her anger from boiling over. She gave him a pointed look, maybe he'd get the hint that he was being a git. Maybe that would be asking for too much. "You're a real prat Malfoy. He couldn't have had anything to do with the murder, he had a heart attack at just knowing his employee had been murdered."

He shook his head, his blonde bangs fell in front of his eyes, he brushed them away before he spoke, "And I'm telling you he seemed too senile to be true." He argued. "Don't you think he would remember how his employee acted before she went missing and not needed to take that long to think it over? It just seemed strange to me."

"Than you can explain that to Kingsley, I'm quite certain we'll be called to his office within the next few minutes."

Just as she had predicted a small enchanted paper airplane flew through the small window above the door. She knew the stationary, it was Kinsley. He was the only one that still continued to use the older ministry stationary, he said he felt that the paper was more professional than the stationary they used now. The only difference was that they now used the white paper, instead of the sepia color they had in the part. It landed gracefully on her desk and unfolded itself revealing Kingsley's handwriting. She didn't need to read its contents in order to know what he wanted. She rose from her desk, "Malfoy, Kingsley wants us in his office." She said. She could feel her voice shaking with anxiety. He didn't argue with her, which she had been grateful for. He got up and followed closely behind her.

She knew how much hot water they were in It didn't take an idiot to figure that out. If they were lucky they would be off the case, it their fortune wasn't with them however, they could be removed from the ministry.

If the latter happened, she would never let Malfoy forget it.

Hermione had stopped before entering Kingsley's office. She had to regain at least some of her composure if she were to get through this meeting. She took a deep breath and counted down. Once done she glanced over to Malfoy who seemed just as apprehensive, if not more, as she did. She wondered whether or not she should calm him down. In the end she had decided against that. This had been his fault in the first place, he needed to feel this anxiety, maybe he would learn a lesson to not act unprofessional during a case.

She turned her head to face the door and knocked. With the go ahead she calmly walked into his office, Malfoy followed suit. She looked at Kinsley who had been seated behind his office, he looked to be working on paperwork. He hadnt even glance away from his work when he spoke to them, "Take a seat." He said. Hermione caught his tone and thought he sounded annoyed. Given the circumstances she couldn't help but feel she had been correct.

They both sat down in the two big black leather chairs in front of the desk. He still hadnt looked up from his paperwork. She took a brief moment to glance at Malfoy. She watched as he played with his thumbs. She also noticed how his foot began to tap against the floor impatiently. The man really had no patience.

She couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him, even if this whole thing had been caused by him. She also felt a twinge of regret, she shouldn't have just ignored him, she should have at least tried and calmed him down. But this was Malfoy! He wouldn't do the same for her, right?

After what seemed like hours, Kingsley finally addressed the two. His expression unreadable, but his tone, she could tell had been stern. He was furious with them, and rightly so. They caused their only lead to take a unwanted trip to the hospital. Hopefully that wouldn't hinder their investigation.

"I'm sure you are both aware as to why I called you here."

Hermione mentally flinched at his tone and bowed her head feeling the weight of shame fall on her shoulders, and the anxiety then began to burrow into her. She prayed to anyone that could hear her, that she wouldn't be kicked out of the Ministry, he was finally starting to get comfortable here, with the exception of being forced to be partnered with Malfoy. "Yes sir." She answered.

Malfoy mumbled his response and sunk lower in his chair.

Kingsley turned his focus towards her and said, "Miss Granger, I am deeply disappointed in your actions. I would have expected better from you." He then turned his attention towards Malfoy who flinched under his gaze, "and Mr. Malfoy, I would like to speak with you privately once our meeting is finished."

Malfoy seemed to have sunken farther in his seat. She wondered why Kingsley would want to speak with him privately. Did it involve what had happened last night? Would he get more than being scolded or was this about something else entirely? She saw in the corner of her eye Malfoy straighten his back, "Of course sir." He tried to sound less worried but it failed.

Kingsely nodded his head, "Good, Now you both are hearby removed form the case due to your behavior. I'll be reassigning you both to another case. Miss Ramley will deliver the file once we finish." He said as he looked between the two, "You are now dismissed Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy will join to in your office once we are finished."

"Of course sir." She then rose from her seat and before she left she casted a quick sympatric look towards Malfoy. He did not look good, and even she couldn't help but feel slightly worried for him.

On her way back to her office she couldn't help to wonder why Kingsley wanted to speak more with Malfoy and only say a few words to her. Even if this mess had been caused by him she still was partially to blame and she was the senior auror out of the two. Wouldn't that have meant she was the one the greater punishment fell onto? It just didn't make any sense.

There had to be something more to it than that, she though. Maybe it had something to do with Malfoy's father? His parole hearing was coming up maybe he was involved, or had needed to ask Malfoy a few questions about his fathers behavior. For now that would have to be the conclusion she came to.

She could However ask Malfoy when he returned to the office. She concluded as she walked back into her office. Now would Malfoy give her a straight answer had been another story. She trusted Malfoy as far as she could through him, and she felt as if that feeling had ben mutual.

Even if he withheld the truth to her, the truth always came out.

Sitting at her desk she glanced down at the files that had not been on her desk before they had left. Penelope must have dropped them off while they had been in their meeting. She opened up the files and held back a sigh. It was another robbery case. Malfoy would have a field day over this.

She was about to read over the fies when Malfoy walked into the office. If it was possibly he looked even paler than he had when she left the office. He walked over to the chair in front of her desk with his shoulders tensed. He let out a grumble before he slid into the chair and relaxed slightly. She had a half of mind to ask him what Kingsley had wanted to speak with him about but ended up letting it go. For now they had a case they had to focus on, she could always ask later when he wasn't in such a ridged mood.

She quickly adverted his eyes before he caught her staring at him, the last thing she needed was for Malfoy to think she had been concerned with him. She'd never live it down.

He leaned forward in his chair, his chin resting on the knuckles of his hands, "What Granger." She said gruffly.

"We have a new assignment." She said nonchalantly. Maybe if she brushed off her own annoyances towards their new assignment than hopefully he would too. "I was about to go over the specifics but it looks to be another burglary case."

She could see the look of utter "joy" wash over his face, "Wonderful," he hissed through his teeth. "Where is it this time?"

She scanned over the information, "Perkins Potion and Ingredient Emporium, the thief-like the other robbery-left behind no evidence, no sign of a break in either. That could possibly mean it could be the same person-"

"Or both stores had terrible security systems." Malfoy chided.

"There's that…"She drawled out, "I'll go over the two cases later see if anything else pops out that's the same." It could be a definite possibility that the cases were connected, it couldn't be by chance that they both seemed to leave no traces behind and happen in the same month. "Let's go down and get a look at the scene."

Malfoy let out a groan but didn't argue when he rose from the couch. "I'll apparate us this time." He said with a slight demanding tone.

She looked at him questionably, "And whats wrong with me doing it?"

"Oh nothing other than the fact that you do it very rushed and roughly. You know apparition doesn't have to hurt that much." He finished with a shrug of his shoulders.

Are you telling me I don't know how to apparate?"

"No," He smirked, "I'm just telling you, you apparate like a butcher!"

 _He's not worth it Hermione!_ Her mind cautioned. They didn't need to get into another fight. They were already on a probation of sorts the last thing they, or rather she wanted was to get on the actual probation list.

"Oh get off your high horse Granger, I'm just teasing." He said as he rolled his eyes and offered his arm, "Come one we have a case to start."

She gave him a cautious look, "Draco Malfoy teasing me? I think that might be a bit out of character for you." She jested. Malfoy had always been a bully, but he didn't lightly tease people. No if he wanted to make fun of someone he would go all out.

He rolled his eyes, "Come one Granger, I'd like to get there before I grow too old to think clearly."

"Hey-" He was cut off by the apparting spell that she casted. She felt that gut wrenching squeezing sensation of her body being torn apart as the spell took effect. When the spell worn off she let of Malfoy and flashed him a smug look of victory, "You little buggart…" He huffed.

"Aw did I hurt your little feelings Malfoy?" She gushed faking sympathy. She turned around on her heels and headed towards the potion shop. She stopped right before the shop. Each crime scene always had a charm spell casted on them to prevent any unauthorized wizards from entering.

After using the counter spell she stepped through the charm and entered the shop, at first glance it didn't appear to be a crime scene, but after further inspection Hermione caught a few things that seemed off. This shop appeared to be a very unpopular shop. The shelves were mostly full, and had a thick layer of dusk and grim not only on the shelves but on the merchandise being sold. A few items-the barrels of ingredients in particular-seemed to had been dug through and a few of the bottles seemed ot have fallen off the shelf and had been left on the ground in shattered pieces. She would have to get a detailed list of everything stolen as well as a list of everything that had been disrupted or moved out of place. She looked around the shop hoping to find the shop owner, she did find a man was tall and lengthy with oily greasy hair and a face that seemed to have been stuck into a permanent sneer. The man had been bent over a work desk, his back arched into a hump, he seemed to be brewing a potion of sorts. When she drew closer to the man and his concoction she had the pleasure of getting a whiff of the fowl brew. She had to stop herself from gaging. What kind of potion is he brewing?

She looked to Malfoy who also had a problem with the scent but he seemed to have kept his discomfort to a minimum. He could be a child sometimes. She turned back to the man and cleared her throat, when he didn't respond she spoke up, "Um Sir are you the owner?"

The man turned and gave her a vicious look, flashing his yellow crooked teeth and sending a bitter chill down her spine. He then looker her up and down and too a whiff of the air, his nose wrinkled in disgust and he sent her a icy glare, "Mudblood." He hissed under his breath and Hermione felt anger swell within her. How the hell could he tell my smelling her?! When she stepped forward to give this greasy pompous snake oil of a man a piece of her mind, Malfoy's arm flashed out in front of her. When she looked to glare at him furious that he wouldn't let her defend herself she caught the wink he gave her. Confused she stood there as Malfoy stepped forward to address him, "Your Perkins, correct?" He demanded his tone stern and unwavering. His voice sounded so different than his usual tone that it had thrown Hermione for a loop. It was smooth as ice and commanding. She had never heard him-not even in school-speak in that kind of a tone.

Perkins-she presumed-flinched under Malfoy's icy stare, "W-who wants to know?" Her wormed out.

Malfoy took out his badge and flashed it at him, "My name is Draco _Malfoy."_ He enunciated his last name and it made Perkins flinch once more and began to sweat in his seat. "I'm with the Auror Department, my partner and I are hear to investigate the robbery you had here last night."

The man sneered, his beady brown eyes glaring towards her, "I don' be wantin' no help from no mudblood." He spat.

"Well I can appeal to the ministry to reassign someone new to the case, but that could take weeks, you know we do have certain _protocols_ to follow." He smirked at Hermione, then continued, "Then by the time you do have someone new, the trail will probably grow cold, and he'll get away."

Was Malfoy defending her? First he teases her playfully now he's defending her? This couldn't be the same stuck up pureblood she had gone to school with? No, he was only looking out for his own self interest. He had only done that to probably move the case along, and probably to prevent her from getting into a fight with the owner and getting them thrown into Kingsley's office once again. She would have to question his intentions later, for now she'd let him handle Perkins.

The man shook his, disgruntled he said to Malfoy, "Alrigh' fine, just don't be lettin' her touch nothin' don' want her stink muckin' up teh place."

She felt heat flare up in her face. How dare he insinuate she smelt when his concoction smelt like a sewer in the summer time! She said nothing as Malfoy took a parchment from the grease rat. "I this the list of the items stolen?" Malfoy asked.

Perkins nodded his head, not a strand of hair fell out of place on his greasy oily head. "I'll also need a list of thing out of place." Malfoy ordered his commanding tone hadnt wavered.

"Yes Mr. Malfoy." He wheezed and she grabbed a quil. Even though Malfoy's family name had fallen from grace with many people it seemed that a few families still feared and respected his name.

Malfoy nodded his head, and turned back to her, "Let's go take a look around outside while he does that." He barked. She was about to tell him not to order her around but caught herself. He had a reason, it showed Perkins how powerful he was. He wouldn't cooperate if he knew one of the oldest pureblood heirs took orders from a muggleborn. She gridded her teeth and followed him outside.

He turned around and flashed her a conceded smirk, "Your welcome Granger." He bragged. "I was pretty professional back there wasn't I?"

She rolled her eyes and walked to the side of the building, "Oh stop patting yourself on the back Malfoy, it'll leave a bruise on your delicate skin." She chided playfully.

"Bugger off Granger." He huffed as he joined her, "So, see anthing?"

She looked around, no signs of any window that might have been smashed then repaired with magic. Nor any signs of a door being broken into, "Why don't you question Perkin's about his security system, I', going back to the office and see what these ingredients give us."

He shrugged and walked back into the shop as she apparated back to the department.

Hermione had spent the rest of the afternoon in her office researching the ingredients stolen from each of the robberies. She tried all the combinations and none of them produced anything remotely usuable. And after all that work she still was no closer to determine why those items had been stolen, nor had she come close to figuring out who the culprit was.

She let out a groan and leaned back her in chair, this robbery couldn't be just a normal break in like Malfoy had assumed. It had been to professional, to clean. And why those ingredients? Most of them were inexpensive and very easy to come by, save for the moonstone. Anyone could just purchase the other items. Unless the thief had stolen the other items to have confused anyone pursuing them from their real goal. But if that had been the case than why not steal other items closer in value, why steal common ingredients that would make the rarer object stand out more.

This case had been proving to be a real mystery. She glanced over at the clock, four hours had gone by since her and Malfoy had split up. Hopefully he had found something.

Thinking of Malfoy made her thoughts drift over to the events of this morning. Whatever Kingsley and Malfoy's conversations had been about really straightened out Malfoy. He had barely argued with her today, sure he had joked around but that was nothing. He had even been cooperative if he hadnt intervened when Perkins insulted her and had let her duke it out with him than well it wouldn't have been good. She wondered whether or not Harry and Ron had found out about Malfoy working in their department. She had been surprised, they hadnt run to her to gossip about how he had the nerve to join the auror department. They could be busy with a case. She thought, maybe they were assigned to the murder case that her and Malfoy had been previously on. It was right up their alley. If that happened Malfoy would have a field day. Sooner or later though they would find out, and when they did, it would only be a matter of time before they found out that she was partners with him. That would be one conversation she wouldn't be looking forward to. She could already imagine their reactions. Harry would be concerned for her safety and blame Malfoy for no reason at all, and Ron would blow it up out of proportion claiming he was some sort of spy for a new dark wizard group that was lurking in the shadows.

She had been too deep in her thoughts that she hadnt heart the pop sound that had been made by someone using the apparating spell. She also hadnt noticed the person walk up to her desk until they slammed their hands in front of her, shocking her out of her thoughts-and out of her chair. "Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed as she fell down.

Said Weasley laughed and bent down to help her up. "Whaat 'mione?" She giggled as she pulled the brunette off the floor. "You make it too easy."

Hermione only glared as she dusted herself off and fixed her chair. Though her relationship with Ron had ended, her friendship with Ginny hadnt wavered. The redhead had harbored no ill feelings towards Hermione for ending things with her brother and –had for the most part- had respected her wishes on the matter. "Here visiting Harry?"

Ginny smiled "I haven't gone to his office yet. I wanted to talk with you first."

"Oh? And what could be so important that you needed to talk with me first over your "true love." She teased.

Ginny let out a huff and placed a hand on her hip, "Well if your gonna poke fun at me than nevermind."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Come one Gin I can tell your busting out at the seams over this, so just tell me."

Ginny shook her head, but grinned, "Oh its good trust me! But I cant tell you now, there's just too much to talk about. Can we meet up for dinner?"

"Alright how's six sound?"

"Excellent! Meet me at our usual place then!" She squeeled as she ran out of the office in a rush.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders but felt herself smile. It must be some new she had that she couldn't just owl her about. Either way it would be nice to get out and have a girls night. They hadnt done that since Ron and her broke up.

She glanced back down at her work, then to the clock. Four mor hours till the office closed, hopefully Malfoy hurried back before then.

It had been quarter to five when Malfoy returned to the office. She felt her frustration bubbling in her chest when he presented her with only a list of all the objects in the shop that had been disturbed after the break in. Calmly she asked, "This couldn't have possibly taken that long to get…what have you've been doing all this time?!"

He mearly shrugged her off and collapsed onto the small green couch she had in the corner of her office, "I looked around the shop found nothing by the way. And I thought I'd save some time and just question the people that lived around there-"

"You questioned people without me?!"

"Before you get your knickers in a twsit Granger." He badgered which caused her face to heat up and anger boil in her stomach, "Someone saw someone enter the shop."

And just like that her face cooked and her anger simmered down, "Did they give a description? Maybe they knew who it was?"

"Woah, don't get carried away! The woman only said she saw somone poking around about the shop after hours that's all."

"Oh…"

Malfoy smirked, "Come now Granger, it aint that bad of news. At least someone saw something." He shrugged, "And who knows maybe next time someone will actually see something."

Hermione looked down towards the two list, that wasn't good enough. They needed to know who this was before they committed another break in. " So Granger what you do all day?"

"I told you I was going to compare the two."

"Well what did you come up with then?"

"There were only one item stolen that the two shared in common." She addressed as she pulled out her notes from underneath the parchments. "Nightshade had been stolen from each of the crime scenes. I also had gone over a list of all known potions to see which combination of ingredients gave us something-"

"And?" Malfoy coxed.

"They produced nothing."

Malfoy let out a sigh and leaned back on the couch, "This case is a bloody waste of time and effort!"

"Well its what we deserve after last nights mission." But this is a waste of time. She agreed with him. "Its quite possibly it could be one person, and whoever it is attacking potion shops. Right now I think all we can do is warn potion shop owners on Diagon alley. It'll give them some kind of warning, but at this point its really all we can do."

Malfoy sat up from the chair and ran a hand though his hair, "I don't get it though." He pondered, "All those ingredients are extremely easy to come by with the exception of the moon stone. You could get them anywhere and everywhere. Why did the guy take them?"

Hermione had wondered the same thing. Why go through all the trouble for items that could grow in any garden. It didn't make much sense at all, "Unless maybe the culpit hadn't wanted to leave a trail behind." That or they didn't have the means to buy the items, but you would have to be dirt poor.

"Either why, I'm still thinking they were only after the moonstone."

She glanced towards the clock, it was already past quitting time, and there was no way she would let Malfoy be the one to keep her from her eveing. Gathering her papers she rose from the chair, "It's getting late, I'll drop off our findings with Penelopy. It wouldn't be a bad idea to start fresh in the morning instead of trying to wrap out brains around it tonight." Ordinarily she would be the one that would work all throughout the evening, but she did have plans she had not wanted to miss.

"Good idea Granger." Malfoy agreed as he headed for the door, but right as he had been about to leave, he glanced over his shoulder and said, "See yah Granger."

Why'd he take the time to wish her a farwell? She wondered for the moment, and then let it slide. She hadn't the time to waste on thinking about Malfoy. She'd be late if she didn't hurry.

After stopping at her apartment to freshen up-she could still faintly smell the lingering stench of the potion on her-Hermione had barely made it to the diner to meet with Ginny. She found the redhead seated at their normal table.

"Sorry I'm late Gin." She said as she joined her.

Ginny waved her off with a smile. "It's perfectly alright 'mione, you forget Harry that Harry's schedule is just as chaotic as yours. He rarely ever gets home on time." She said as she handed her the menu, "Now, whats with the face?"

"What face?"

Ginny merely rolled her eyes, "The look you give when something-"she paused as a loud chorus of laughter broke out form the table over. "Or someone was bothering you. You know the look you constantly made whenever Malfoy opened his mouth."

Hermione groaned at the very mention of his name. It was bad enough that her whole work revolved around Malfoy now. The last thing she needed was to have him get brought up on topic outside of work. She had hoped that it had been too loud in the building for Ginny to have heard her discontent but unfortunately the look she had been giving her had informed her otherwise.

"You ran into the prat didn't you?"

"What, no I-" She had been interuped when their waiter had shown up to take their orders. As Ginny gave her's, Hermione took the opportunity to think over her answer. She knew Ginny would find out about her partnership with Malfoy eventually. She also knew that out of Harry, Ron and Ginny, Ginny would be the only one that wouldn't blow things out of proportion.

After she placed her order and the waiter hurried off Hermione found herself under Ginnn's gaze. "No more distractions. What happened, and did it have something to do with Malfoy?"

Hopefully to avoid the subject entirely she quickly said, "We came here to talk about the big news you have, not about my day."

Luck had not been on her side that night for Ginny did not fall for the topic swap, "We'll get to that, I wanna know what the Ferret did that put you in a bad mood. Must be something big."

Hermione let out a sigh of frustration, "Fine." She pulled back her hair into a high pony tail, to avoid getting it into the food. "If I tell you, you have to swear not to tell a soul! That means you cant tell Harry, and you cant tell Ron."

If your about to tell me that your in a secret forbidden relationship with the guy then I'll not only be hurt that you didn't tell me, but also disgusted that your snogging the guy."

"What! No! Merlin what would ever give you that idea?"

"Well I did catch him looking at you funny during seventh year, but if it isn't that, than what he do?"

Hermione shook her head, the very idea of her and Malfoy in that kind of relationship. She couldn't even imagine. She knew he hated her with everything he had, it was all there in their past. But yet he hadn't acted that way lately. He still hated her, she knew he did he was just more mature about it now. Right?  
"You know how Kingsley assigned everyone a partner in the aurora department?"

"Yeah, Harry and Ron have been complaining about it. About time really what with all the stupid stunts those two pull." Ginny said rolling her eyes, "Who'd you get partnered with? Cant be Neville, he's with Ron, and it cant be Luna, she with Harry. Wait…don't tell me it's Malfoy?"

She sighed, "It is…"

Hermoine winced as Ginny screeched, "Bloody hell." She had gotten hushed by a few other of the patrons in the room but she had paid no mind. "I didn't even know he was in the ministry. You'd think I would have heard Harry or Ron complain about it.."

"That's the thing, they don't know. I didn't even know until I got partnered with him."

"What a crude twist of fate. He doesn't mistreat you does he? I swear if he said that vile nasty word to you even once, I'll hex him back to first year!"

Hermione couldn't hide the smile that crept to her face. Leave it to Ginny to put a smile back on her face. She was truly thankful that Ginny and hers relationship hadn't wavered since her break up with Ron. They were still as close as they ever been. "He's been a prat really. Complaining non stop and just doing what he feels like."

"So nothing out of the ordinary I suppose."

They both laughed and Hermione could tell that her spirits had been lifted and the events of the last few days seemed to drift to the back of her mind. For the moment she didn't have the constant nag at her mind that Malfoy was up to something, or that he would get them both band from the ministry. Ginny did have that effect on people she was a miracle worker when it came to cheering someone up. "We've managed to get into a fight in front of a witness and thanks to that were both under probation. It's mostly his fault really, he had been incredibly impatient with the witness and I had yelled at him. Which started the argument that got us into that mess."

"That's bullocks." Ginny spat, "He dragged you down with him."

Though he really didn't. Hermione thought feeling a twinge of guilt. "I admit it wasn't entirely his fault. If I hadn't lost my temper than it wouldn't have escalated. But it was still mostly his fault. He shouldn't have acted like such a child." She said right as the waited returned and handed them their meal after she had taken a few bites of her meal she continued on, "So after that Kingsley called us both into his office, told us we were on probation but instead of dismissing us both, he only dismissed me. He had said he needed to talk to Malfoy privately. I have absolutely no notion what it might have been about, but it had a real effect on Malfoy afterwards. During the case we had today, he hadn't complained. He even was helpful and hadn't argued once. He acted like a changed person."

"Strange…" Ginny piped in.

"I think it could have had something to do with the pretenses of him getting hired. But Ginny he had tease me, he wasn't being a bully, he was _playfully_ teasing with me! He hadn't even called me that word once, he hadn't even hinted that he was better than me. It was so strange."

"Maybe Kinsley placed him under the imperious curse-"

"Ginny!"

"I'm only joking Hermione, but yes that is, peculiar…" She agreed.

By the time they finished their meal and had their plates taken away most of the patrons had already left leaving only their table and the table over to the other side of the room. Must be near closing. Hermione thought. Ginny began to speak again after a few moments of silence. "I'm quite surprise Harry and Ron don't know about Malfoy though. You would think Harry would know at least."

Over the last few months Kingsely had decided he would run for Minister of Magic which would leave his position with the Aurora department open. So he had asked Harry if he would be up to the job. Harry of course had agreed, not to long after did Kingsley start handing some of the decision making to him.

"Kinsley knows they had a history." Hermione added, "Maybe he wants Harry to find out on his own, bit either way, they'll both find out soon enough its not a very big department they'll run into one another eventually. I just hope I won't be there when it happens."

Ginny gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry 'mione I wont tell them."

Hermione smiled, "Thanks Gin, I'll tell them soon, I just need to figure out how so they jump to conclusions." She said, "Now enough about me, you promised me big news. Now confess, what is it?"

"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed her cheeks turning a slight pinkish color. "The other day, well you see, oh how do I put it?"

"Just tell me Ginny!"

"Harry proposed! We're getting married!"

Hermione let out a glee of delight-which had interuped the louder party over on the other side of the room- and leaned over the table to give Ginny a bone crushing hug. "That's wonderful news Ginny! I'm so happy for you!" She exclaimed as she released her, and sat back down, ignoring the comments from the other table to be quiet she said, "When's the wedding?"

"A year from now." She replied as she fixed her shirt and hair. "We decided to wait till after Kingsley becomes Minister and for Harry to adjust to be head aurora."

"I'm so happy for you Ginny!" It was about time Harry asked her.

"I was hoping, that since I don't have any sisters and as funny as it would be to see George in a bridesmaid dress, I was hoping you would be my maid of honor?"

The tears pooled in Hermione's eyes before her mind had registered Ginny's request. She felt her heart swell and couldn't hold the tears back. She had no siblings of her own, yet she thought of Ginny as the closest thing to having a sister. "Of course Ginny I would love to." She choked out. For once Hermione was speechless.

If Ginny's smile could get any bigger her lips would reach her ears. "I'll let you know when I go dress shopping! She said as she fished out her money to pay. "Though I think mom wants me to wear her old wedding gown, but that shouldn't stop me from browsing. Oh Hermione I'm just so excited I could burst!"

Hermione laughed as she took out her own money to pay. Standing up she gave Ginny one last squeeze before they departed. She really needed to spend more time with the her, but with both of their own kinds of busy schedules, they never really had time. Ginny had joined a Qudditch team, the Harlequin Harpies, and had games all over Britain. "I'm so Happy for you and Harry both!"

"Thank you Hermione, and don't worry I wont tell a soul about your Malfoy problem."

Hermione knew Ginny wouldn't say anything, she thought as the two parted for the night. What she was concerned about was Malfoy and if his current disposition would last.

The next day Hermione walked into the office with a grin on her face. She has stocked up on her shampoo and conditioner, so no more frizzy unmanageable-well less unmanageable-hair, it hadn't rained a drop today, she had also replaced the book Crockshanks had destroyed at half the cost, and most important of all, Ginny and Harry were getting married! How exciting! She thought as she turned the corner towards her office. It had been about time really, the two had been together since school.

On her way to her office she had been passing by the break room when she heard familiar voices coming from inside the room. "Don't you two have jobs to do?" She heard Malfoy say.

She wasn't the most nosy person-well in regards to herself-but she felt herself peer into the room to see Malfoy standing behind Seamus and Dean who looked to be blocking Malfoy's exit to the door. Seamus took a step towards Malfoy and crossed his arms. In a threatening manner he said, "Why don' ya answer my question Malfoy?"

She was surprise to when Malfoy didn't step forward, he hung back and leaned against the wall, nonchalantly he said, "And I told you before, I work here."

Seamus scoffed, "I don' believe you, why would Kingsley hire the likes of you."

Dean piped in a response, "He probably bought or threatened in way in, its what he's good at."

Hermione managed to catch a glimpse of Seamus face before he turned his attention back to Malfoy. He looked very smug and way to full of himself. What had caused this little skirmish in the first place? Did Malfoy start a fight? That couldn't be the case for the way he acted. To Hermione it looked at though Seamus and Dean had been the ones to stir it up. But that couldn't be, could it.

The scene in front of her played out like a scene from school, but in this regards it had been the complete opposite of the fights that happened in Hogwarts. Werent they all adults here, shouldn't they be working together and no against one another?

And maybe she should take her own advice. Wasn't she the one who had jumped to conclusions about Malfoy, just as Seamus and Dean were doing right now? She wanted to step forward to interrupt but Malfoy spoke up, his tone firm yet nonthreatening which caught her off guard. The Malfoy she knew wouldn't keep calm in a situation such as this, yet here he was proving her wrong yet again. "Or you know I could be telling you the truth." He said with a roll of his shoulders. Where was that temper of his. Why wasn't he fighting back? Normally by now Malfoy would be shouting 'Wait till I tell my father!' or 'You'll regret that' Maybe it was because he didn't have daddy to run to. But Hermione wasn't so sure that was the case.

Both Seamus and Dean let out a bellow of laugher, "On what skills Malfoy?" Seamus sneered, "I remember you always had been shown up by 'arry or 'ermione!"

" That and you were always a bloody coward." Dean added.

"So tell me Malfoy, why would Kingsley hire you?"

Hermione watched Malfoy's face pinch in anger. His body language had grown tense and ridged. His cheeks slowly turned red with each mocking word they said. He was trying to keep his anger in, Hermione decided. "I don't see why you got hired Finnigan." Malfoy quipped, his tone edgy, "You always managed to blow something up, so don't you stop wondering why I got hire and start consider why you were hired hrm?"

Seamus took another step forward, his face had grown red and his eyebrows knitted together. Defensively Seamus said, "I was hired for me merit and not for being a death eater. I know it still here." He accused as he nudged his head towards Malfoy's arm, "Even with all those bloody glamour charms on it. Once a death eater, always a death eater."

Once again Malfoy stood there, he didn't sday a word. He only clenched his jaw and tightened his grimp on his arms to the point where his knuckles had begun to turn white with the pressure.

Seamus scoffed, "Were you too sentimental to get rid of it? If I were you Malfoy, I wouldn't get to comfortable you wont be here long."

Dean jumped in again and added, "Yeah once Harry becomes Head, you'll be gone faster than a hypogrif!"

Malfoy glared, remaining silent he moved to leave but Seamus blocked him from it with his shoulder. Now Malfoy was tall, tall for a regular man. But Seamus was taller, and wider than Malfoy, so when Malfoy got bumbed by Seamus's shoulder it pushed him back a little. "Runnin' with yer tail between yer legs eh Malfoy?" He mocked, "You were always good at doin' that!"

"Bugger off Finnigan, before you blow up the coffee maker."

"Why you little-" Seamus said while he reached for his wand, and on instinct-or as she had liked to have said-did Hermione. Before Seamus or Hermione could completely remove their wands, Dean had interrupted placing a hand on Seamus's forearm.

"He's not worth it mate."

Seamus nodded his head and move his hand away form his wand. "Yer right, I ain't stoopin' down to his level."

Dean then turned to Malfoy, and with an icy glare he said, "Why don't you just slither off Malfoy."

Malfoy shot them both a glare and said, "I would but your ego's are blocking the way." And then shoved between them. He briskly walked right past Hermione and towards his office, without ever inclining that he took notice of her.

Hermione followed suit, but at a much slower pace. Why hadn't he fought back. He just stood there and had only thrown a few innocent quips, but nothing like he would have if they had been back at Hogwarts. He might have even thrown a few jinks their way. But he hadn't.

Those questions weren't the only ones that puzzled her. She wondered why she had also reached for her wand when Seamus had gone for his. If a wand fight really had broken out, had she really been ready to defend Malfoy against her school hood friends? Or did she raise her wand out of instinct. That must be it, only reflexes. She told herself.

She reached her office and saw Malfoy sitting on the couch with their robbery file in hand. He peered up over the notes when she walked in. "You're later than normal Granger." His tone sounded stiff, did Seamus really get under his skin that badly? "Had a late night researching?"

"I suppose so…" She trailed off. Should she really ask him if he was alright? Would he even answer her? Couldn't hurt to try. "Malfoy, what was that back there Between you and Seamus I mean. Why were they-"

"Drop it Granger." He cut in.

"I just wanted to see-" She pushed back, but he cut her off once more.

"It's none of your concern Granger."

She shot him a glare, of course It was her concern. He was her partner after all, and if he let his feelings and mood get in the way, than it could effect the case and then they both would be in more trouble than they already were in. What Hermione had been telling herself why she was so concern.

"Alright." She said, "Have it your way then." She made her way over to her desk and sat down.

After a moment of sitting in an uncomfortable silence, Malfoy spoke up, "Anything new about the case?"

"Unfortunately no, nothing." She said with a sigh, she was glad that they were mature enough to move on, at least he moved on, "I think at this point, we'll have to drop the case. I'll talk to Kingsley about it." She finished as she rose from her chair.

"I'll go with you." Malfoy said as he caught up with her and went to the door. "I have to talk to Kingsl-" He had started when the door had been opened up abruptly , interrupting them both, as Peneople timidly entered the office.

"I-I'm sorry to i-interrupt Miss Granger, uh M-Mr.M-Malloy…but Mr. Shaklebott has called a meeting for all Auroras."

Hermione felt her stomach roll with the information. Something big must have happened for kingsley to have called a meeting with everyone. "Do you know what it's about" She inquired hoping it wouldn't be something horrible. Maybe there was just a change in policy.

Penelope paled a little, "Yes, it's about the, the new murder case." She said with a low quivering tone, her papers shaking in her hands.

Two murders in one month. Hermione's mind grasped. Murder wasn't to uncommon in the wizarding world, but for the last few years murder cases had been spread out to being month in between one another, and they would normally catch the murderer a few days after it was committed. They hadn't experience a professional murderer in months, not since Voldemort had been alive.

Could the two be connected? She wondered. The last thing the wizarding world needed was a serial killer. They've only had five years of peach, and they didn't need it being disrupted.

"We need to get assigned to that case Granger!" Malfoy urged her.

She shot him a look, was he still glory hogging, heartless boy he was back in school. She shook her head and whispered to him, "I highly doubt Kingsley would allow us." Then she turned back to Penelope, "Do you have anymore details?"

"U-unfortuntatly no," she replied, her tone wavering. "I-I have to go inform Mr. Potter and Mrs. Longbottom about the meeting." She finished and hurried out of the room without waiting to be dismissed.

"Mrs. Longbottom?" Malfoy asked, "Who the hell married Longbottom?"

Hermione rolled her eyes then shot him a look, "You make it seem like no one would marry Neville."

"It's Longbottom! He trips over his own two feet and runs from his shadow."

"Neville is one of the kindest men I know!" Hermione defended as she headed towards the conference room. "And instead of questioning who married Neville, maybe you should question who would want to marry you!"

That comment had caused malfoy to pause, "And just want do you mean by that Granger?" He huffed as he caught up to her, "I know plenty of women would would jump at the chance to marry me!"

"Marry you, or marry your money?" It had been a good question/comeback in her mind, but one look at Malfoy's face told her otherwise. She had thought he would be furious with her and throw one of his argumentative tantrums, but instead he once again paused and for a brief second a loook of hurt flashed in his face. It was so quick that Hermione thought she had been seeing things. He quickly regained his composure and had begun to walk ahead of her. Had she gone to far? Or had she struck a nerve without intending to. Guilty she quickly tried to change back to the original topic. "If you must know, " She said mockingly, hoping to mask her concern-which she didn't know why she Felton- "It's Luna Lovegood." Why would she care if she hurt his feelings.

Malfoy let out a snort, "I guess you'd have to be looney to marry Longbottom." He replied his tone held a sort of emotion that Hermione couldn't place, remorse? Jealously? But that would be unlike Malfoy. But yet that look of hurt he had made, made her question. It was strange to see these kinds of sides to Malfoy. She had always been used to the Malfoy she had grown up with. He snobby, shallow, the I only have two kinds of emotion's Malfoy. But now, now she wasn't sure what kind of person he was. Sure he was still immature, but something definitely was different about him. Maturity? Could be.

They reached the doors to the conference room and when they pushed open the double doors they noticed how full the room was. Maneuvering though had been tricky, but the pair had found themselves a spot in the back of the room nearest the wall. While Hermione wandered through the crowd, she had noticed that anyone Malfoy had walked past, either muttered , death eater or sent him a look of malice. She honestly felt bad for Malfoy. He might have been a death eater in the past, but that didn't mean he was one now. Could it? She wasn't sure. Malfoy could have redeemed himself, but at the same time he could be deceiving everyone. Noe one seemed to trust him, except for Kingsley, though that could be wrong. Kingsley might have allowed him into the Aurora, and the ministry, but that was different than trust.

She was his partner, shouldn't she trust him? They would be out in the field together, risking their lives. Shouldn't she trust that he would watch her back? And vice versa as well. She didn't know if she ever could, and for some reason that made her feel quilts. Shouldn't she be the one person that did trust him?

She looked around the room, trying to distract her thoughts from thinking too much on the Malfoy matter. She couldn't see Ron nor Harry anywhere. At least they weren't the last ones to arrive. She thought.

She watched as Kingsley and a few other interns set up a display and place some paper on the podium. She wondered if harry was supposed to be taking over Kingsley position, shouldn't he be here before everyone else? Unless he hadn't been briefed about it before.

The door's suddenly opened, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts. Glancing over, it was harry and Ron, who both looked out of sorts. Must have been a late night. By the look of them both, Hermione decided she was right. They must have been out celebrating Harry's engagement. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of remorse. Once upon a time ago they would have invited her. But no matter, Ginny and her had a nice evening out anyway.

The two slowly, and very sloppily made their way through the room to a spot in front, all while under the very scrutinizing eyes of Kingsley. They were no doubt in for a lecture after the meeting, and judging from the pair's expression, and avoidance of Kingsley gaze, they knew it too.

As they began to take their seats, Ron stopped, his gaze lingering in her direction, yet he wasn't staring at her. After a second, recognition washed over his feature. Then all too quickly did his face pinch in anger. He leaned towards harry and said a few words all while pointing towards Malfoy. Hermione glanced at Malfoy who had seemed to take notice at Ron's gaze. He only raised an eyebrow and leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. She looked back over at the pair in time to see Harry turn, shocked. It quickly turned to suspicion as he turned to speak to Ron. They began a heated exchange from what Hermione could tell based on the faces and body language, all the while a knot began to twist in her stomach. She wondered whether they thought she was Malfoy's partner, or that she was unfortunate enough to be stuck standing next to him. She hoped it had even the latter. She wasn't ready to have that argument with them.

Kingsley moved to the front of the podium and started by saying, "Thank you all for coming, ,I know it's early." He emphasized while shooting a disapproving look towards Ron and Harry. It got a few laughs out of the other Auroras, but all humor was lost on the two, who kept looking over their shoulder at Malfoy. "But I've called this meeting to discuss the recent string of murder that have been committed as of late. Last night a young woman, A Marian Meyers had been found dead. Murdered in the exact same way at Gwendolyn Hopkins had been." Kingsley said as he displayed two photographs on the clear board beside him. Hermione recognized the first photo of Hopkins body, having seen it first hand, but she didn't recognized the other woman. She studied the photo as best as she could at the distance she was at. From what she could see, even the way the body was positioned were the same.

"The two cases share to many similarities to call these cases random." He continued as he placed more photo's from the crime scene up. "Both of the women had been found in a back alley way amongst the trash, both had been brutally tortured by use of the cruciotous curse, as well as sexual assault. And both had been given a poison that had turned their blood black, as well as both of their wands had been used to torture them and then broken and left discarded near the bodies." Kingsley paused and glanced down at the papers in front of him, he let out a long sigh and looked back up. Whatever he was going to say next would not be easy. Hermione noted taking in his stiffened shoulders. "That and both women were muggleborns."

The room had shifted uncomfortably as Kingsley's words hung in the air. She could feel the growing tension in the room and felt herself shift uncomfortably in her standing posting Even Malfoy had shown a sort of discomfort but the slightest intake of breath and the way his body went rigged.

Could this be only a coincidence? Hermione had hoped. It had only even a few years since the war had ended, they didn't need another muggleborn hater killing more innocent people on account of their blood. The war had already killed so many already.

She had been brought back to attention when an aurora had stood up to speak, "Sir, " The aurora began, Hermione had recognized him but couldn't place a name to the face. "Do you think whoever did this could be targeting muggleborn's specifically? Should we notify the public?" He asked and Hermione noted that his hands seemed to skate ever so much. He could be a muggleborn, that or a loved one.

Kingsley cleared his throat and shifted his posture, he too looked perturbed by the information he had presented. Ut after a brief moment, he regained that aura of calme and collectiveness, "At this point in the investigation we are going to assume that whoever is doing this is targeting young women around the ages of twenty and thirty." He addressed his tone even and clear. "We are not ruling out the fact that they could be targeting muggleborn's, but there isn't enough evidence to support that theory. At this point it might be only a coincidence.

Hermione's hand shot up ito their air, they were overlooking another detail, minor though it maybe, but it was relevant. "But sir." She began dropping her hand to her side. "These two women's shared some of the same physical features. Could it be he's actually targeting women who are brunettes with similar facial features.?"

Kingsley shook his head dismissively, "That is only a coincidence. Brown hair is too common of a hair color." He disregarded, then turned back down at his papers. How could he dismiss that fact so casually. She though. It maybe true that brown hair was quite a common hair trait, but that didn't mean you could overlook it so easily. And not only did the women have the same hair color but eye color as well. There physical similarities were to close to be ignored. Hermione decided. She would have to talk with Kingsley about it further.

"Now." Kingsley began again his eyes surveyed the room. "We need to keep the fact that they killer could be targeting muggleborn's quiet. The last thing we need is the public causing a stir and feeding the killer's ego. We don't give him any titles and do not talk to any reported. We don't want anyone getting all the details, and getting it into their head that they want to copy the guy."

Muggleborn Murderer

By:Rita Skeeter.

October 6th 2003

Last night another young woman had been found murdered in an alley way, skittered amongst the garbage and filth in Diagon young had been identifyed as one Miss Marian Meyers, an intern who had previously worked at the Daily Profet. Meyers had been reported missing when she had not shown up for her shift on October 3rd. There is no information at present on when she initially had been killed but the coroner stated she had been there for quite some time before the body had been discovered.

According to the corner's autopsy, Meyers had been severely tortured by the curious toys curse, sexually assault and had been fed a unknown poison before she had died.

The aurora department believes that this is the work of a serial killer, the same killer that had murdered Gwendolyn Hopkins not even a month ago in the same brutal fashion.

As of now the aurora department have not identified the serial killer, nor are they close to solving these cases for no new information have surfaced. Could this be the work of an agent of the anti-muggleborn supporters that have been cropping up, or could it be someone who had supported Voldemort and had taken up the mantle?

Whoever the culprit is he is still on the lose. Muggleborn's Beware!

You can be sure that Rita Skeeter will keep you all informed! Stay safe my loyal readers!


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